Who Was Claude Monet

Claude Monet is considered one of the most influential artists of all time. He is a founder of the French Impressionist art movement, and today his paintings sell for millions of dollars. While Monet was alive, however, his work was often criticized and he struggled financially. With over one hundred black-and-white illustrations, this book unveils a true portrait of the artist!

Monet was the most typical and the most individual Impressionist painter. But while the painter was faithful and persevering in the pursuit of his motifs, his personal life followed a more restless course. Parisian by birth, he discovered painting as a youth in the provinces, where one of his homes, Argenteuil, has come to represent the artistic flowering and official establishment of Impressionism as a movement.

This beautiful slipcased volume offers an intimate tour inside Monet’s home and through the idyllic Giverny garden that inspired his most iconic paintings. Monet first spotted the village of Giverny from the window of a train and then relocated to the rural haven outside Paris in 1883. Monet was an artist with a passion for painting landscapes and outdoor scenes, and the garden at Giverny soon became the Impressionist master’s greatest artistic accomplishment and a catalyst for his work. In 1890, Monet began renovating it, installing a picturesque water lily pond inspired by the Japanese prints he avidly collected. The setting of Monet’s Water Lilies series—his most famous works—it is now the most visited garden of its size in the Western world. The beautifully vivid illustrations of Monet’s paintings, his home, and the grounds give readers unprecedented access into the flowery paradise to which Monet dedicated the last forty years of his life. Lovers of garden design and Impressionist art are invited on an intimate tour via this handsome volume.

Claude Monet is one of the most famous painters in history, and he is considered a pioneer of the Impressionist movement. What is Impressionism, and how does Monet's work reflect its purest principles? Readers discover the answers to these and other questions about Monet's life and work as they examine the stories behind some of his most beloved paintings. Colorful examples of his work and photographs from his life fill the pages, alongside annotated quotes from art historians, other artists, and Monet himself. Detailed sidebars appeal to young artists and provide more fascinating details about Monet's life.

In May of 2010, Gagosian Gallery presented the most significant gathering of late Claude Monet paintings in New York in more than thirty years. The catalogue for the exhibition that the New York Times described as "a gorgeous 'where on earth did this come from?' show," focuses on important subjects drawn from the artist's gardens at Giverny. Nymphéas, Le pont japonais, and L'allée de rosiers are among the most treasured paintings of Monet's long and prodigious career. Reproduced in luscious color are early Nymphéas that were first shown in 1909 at the Galerie Durand-Ruel to great critical acclaim. From these delicate, poetic paintings follow the more experimental post-1914 paintings, which were never exhibited during the artist's lifetime. In addition to the 27 sumptuous colour plates, the catalogue is illustrated by numerous colour images of paintings, as well as black-and-white historical photos. It includes a new essay by Paul Hayes Tucker, one of the foremost authorities on Monet and curator of the exhibition; an extract from Michel Butor's seminal 1962 text, "Monet, or the World Turned Upside Down" and a detailed chronology of Monet's life and exhibitions while at Giverny written by leading Monet scholar Charles Stuckey. Also included is a compendium of historical reviews that have been translated from their original French, Italian, or German language and which have been assembled for the first time by Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts.

Spanning the artist's entire career, this book explores Claude Monet's enduring relationship with nature and the landscapes he returned to again and again. Capturing fleeting natural impressions played a central role in the art of Claude Monet. He deeply engaged with the landscape and light of different places, from the metropolis of Paris to the Seine villages of Argenteuil and Giverny. This lavishly illustrated volume explores the development of Monet's art from the 1850s to the 1920s, focusing on the places, both at home and on his frequent travels, from which he drew inspiration for his painting. In addition, the book traces the critical shift in Monet's art that occurred when he began to focus on series of the same subjects such as haystacks, poplars, and the water lilies and pond at his meticulously designed garden in Giverny. Insightful and revealing, the book deepens our appreciation of Monet's art and allows us to experience anew his gift for bringing the natural world to life.

Part of a new series of beautiful gift art books, Claude Monet Masterpieces of Art features all of the popular works of this insightful and experimental artist, from his first inklings as an Impressionist to his later flirtations with Abstract Expressionism. With a fresh and thoughtful introduction to the life and art of one of the most famous artists in the world, the book goes on to showcase his key works in all their glory.